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Wednesday 28 Nov 2018

Passenger’s diamond wedding ring rescued by rail workers from being lost forever on the tracks

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

When passenger Eileen Lawrence lost her wedding ring over the platform edge at Bloxwich North station early one morning she thought it was gone for good. That’s until the Network Rail track team came to her rescue.

As Mrs Lawrence waited on the platform on a cold and dark November morning, for her usual 7.03am train to Birmingham New Street, she decided to moisturise her dry hands.

So out came her hand cream, off came her diamond wedding ring, and in no time it vanished from sight.

Slipping from her fingers, she heard the priceless piece of jewellery ping as it hit the busy station platform, then bounce out of sight onto the railway track below.

Eileen said: “Every day I stand by the same people waiting for my train and when they saw the commotion they couldn’t believe that I’d dropped my wedding ring. People came rushing over to help – one lady even suggested using her umbrella as a hook to find it.

“But it was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t have time to get really upset, because my fellow commuters were so supportive.”

As soon as Eileen arrived at Birmingham New Street station, panicked she’d never see her diamond-studded wedding band again, she reported her mishap to staff and the hunt to find it began.

Efforts were made on the day at Bloxwich North to see where the ring had landed, but they were without luck and hope began to fade.

It was only when Network Rail's track section manager for Walsall, Phil Heeley, was alerted the next day, he was able to get his track technicians Adrian Callaghan and Matt Hayes to meet Mrs Lawrence exactly where she last had her hands on her precious wedding ring.

Phil said: “In all my 40 years’ service I have never had a request like this one. I told Matt he would have to stop the movement of trains with a ‘line block’ before going on to the track, and if the wedding ring wasn’t visible he’d have to move the ballast stone by stone. I even considered trying to get a metal detector if that didn’t work.

“But almost as soon as Matt and Ade went down onto the track, luckily the wedding ring was sat there, pointing up towards the sky. I know how precious a wedding ring is and I really felt as if Network Rail had done a really good deed. I know that on that day there was one lady who was a very happy customer.”

Eileen added: “I felt completely overwhelmed when my ring was finally found. When you hear about Network Rail in the news it’s often negative, so I really wanted to share my story about the lengths its staff went to reunite me with my wedding ring.

“I am really grateful for the team at Network rail who acted so promptly, and to the two men Adrian and Matt and their boss Phil who helped retrieve it from the track. It can only be described as splendid customer service which reached far beyond my expectations.”

It was only after the ring was safely back in its rightful position that Eileen plucked up the courage to tell her husband of 31 years all about its unexpected overnight stay on the tracks.

Mrs Lawrence also says that she’s very much learned her lesson; now she’s vowed to never take it off - or moisturise her hands on her early morning commute again.